1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



119 



ket the mutton would of course be an object. 

 Their sheep were the Spanish or Vermont Meri- 

 no, not perhaps a pure Spanish Merino, but near 

 enough to produce an excellent wool. From 

 these they obtained from Sh to G lbs. of washed 

 wool per head, and in ordinary times this sold for 

 50 cts. per lb. It is sometimes lower in price, 

 but by keeping it over a year it will gain more 

 in weight than enough to pay the interest. Some 

 farmers make money by raising lambs for market, 

 a cross between the Merino and South Down, and 

 a large number of these are so disposed of. The 

 farmers in the county raised corn, oats, rye and 

 wheat, the latter of very good quality and yield, 

 but few raise more than enough for home con- 

 sumption. He had no doubt if sheep husbandry 

 was generally introduced, it would be found the 

 most pro6table branch of farming in the State. 



Mr. Browx, editor of the N. E. Farmer, asked 

 the gentleman whether sheep husbandry had, or 

 had not, a tendency to exhaust farms more than 

 the raising of any other stock ? 



Mr. BusHNELL said he had been engaged for 30 

 years in sheep husbandry, and he knew that he 

 had raised the value of his farm 50 per cent., by 

 stocking with sheep. Where land can be plowed, 

 sheep will improve it very much ; you can make 

 them lie on any part of the field you want them 

 to, by erecting a cheap structure for shelter for 

 them, on wheels so as to move it to different parts 

 of the farm, and by placing a little salt under this 

 shelter, the sheep will always stay there, except 

 when they are feeding ; and by this means, you 

 will in time have the whole fertilized, and this 

 course would be of advantage on land that cannot 

 be plowed. He plowed his land once in three 

 years, and reseeded, and got good crops of corn, 

 spring wheat, &c., when he again sowed, and was 

 sure of a good return. 



In answer to another question, the speaker said 

 that they had fences generally in his county, but 

 he was satisfied that sheep could be educated, and 

 even if they jumped walls, a rail placed on the top 

 would check this disposition ; the fine wooled 

 sheep rarely jumped, although they would creep 

 through holes in a fence wherever they found 

 them. He closed, by saying he thought they 

 were the pleasantest stock a man could have on 

 his farm. 



Hon. Joseph White, of Williamstown, being 

 called on for Northei-n Berkshire, said he had only 

 lived a year in the county, but he agreed to the 

 views advanced by the last speaker, and spoke in 

 high terms of sheep husbandry. He spoke also 

 of the fine short horned cattle raised in Berkshire, 

 but said that since the grant to Williams College, 

 and the railroad had been opened from Adams to 

 Troy, sheep husbandry had taken a fresh start, j 

 Mr. White spoke of Mr. Harrison's farm at North 1 



Adams, consisting of 200 acres of intervale, whose 

 barns, sheds, cattle, crops and income are the best 

 of any in that section. 



Mr. Paoli Lathrop, of South Hadley, said 

 that in Hampden county, all along the Connecti- 

 cut River Valley, the farmer raised a variety of 

 crops, and their grain crops had been excellent. 

 Spring wheat, where it can be got in in the fore 

 part of April, was a sure crop. Winter wheat, 

 broom corn and onions are extensively grown. 

 It had been asked him whether a pound of mut- 

 ton could be raised as cheap as a pound of beef, 

 and he was sure that, apart from the wool, it could. 

 He spoke of the cost of grinding corn for cattle, 

 and said that for sheep this was saved, as the 

 sheep digested all its food. He would recom- 

 mend the South DoAvn for mutton, as it was more 

 easily fattened, and brought a higher price in the 

 market than beef. He had seen a two years old 

 sheep weighing 380 lbs., and two ewes weighing 

 660 lbs., bred by Mr. Stone, of Canada, who was 

 noted for having the best flock of sheep in the 

 country. Mr. Buffum, of Walpole, N. H., had 

 32 ewes in his flock, which cost him $100 each, 

 and he yearly put down 40 acres of his farm to 

 root crops for his sheep, making a handsome in- 

 come from them. 



Mr. Sears, of Yarmouth, spoke of farming 

 in Barnstable county, and said their best paying 

 crop was cranberries, and told, as an exception, 

 not as a rule, that as much as $1750 had been re- 

 alized in a single season from one acre of land, 

 and of a cranberry meadow that had been sold 

 in the spring for $1500, from which the purchaser 

 had cleared $1100 the same year from the crop. 

 The average yield of cranberries, he thought, was 

 $500 per acre. 



Hon. JosiAH QuiNCY, Jr., of Quincy, being 

 called on to speak for Norfolk county, said the 

 best crop he had found was manure. He raised 

 350 tons of hay, kept 80 cows, and followed 

 Dana's method of mixing his manure with swamp 

 muck, and by this means made 100 cords per 

 month. The cotton seed and other meals which 

 he feeds to his cows, make the manure exceed- 

 ingly rich. He considered manure the most ad- 

 vantageous crop a farmer could raise, and it 

 should be his first care. He believed in top-dress- 

 ing, and spoke of McDougal's disinfectant which 

 he was trying, and which he had found to nearly 

 destroy the smell in his stables. If this proved 

 successful in what was claimed for it, it would be 

 of immense advantage in top-dressing, by holding 

 the ammonia in the manure for the rain to dis- 

 perse. 



Hon. Charles G. Davis, of Plymouth, said 

 there wis no regular farming in his county, but 

 there was a strong disposition there to get a liv- 

 ing from their land. It was impossible to say, as 



